Mercury News editorial: California Legislature needs ethics reforms

Share this:

FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2014 file photo, State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, sits at his desk during the first Senate session of the new year at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. A Senate spokesman said Sunday, March 2, Calderon will take an indefinite leave of absence from the Legislature while he awaits trial. Calderon has been arraigned on charges that he accepted bribes totaling $100,000 in cash and trips, funneling some of the money to his children. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

There’s nothing like a couple of scandals to focus the California Legislature on reforms. Since Democrats are in control of both houses, and the current round of arrests involves fellow Democrats, the stars may align for real reform — but what’s on the table so far falls short. The majority party is feeling the sting after the conviction of state Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, on perjury and voter fraud charges, and the federal indictment of Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, on charges of accepting nearly $100,000 in bribes. Both senators are on paid leave.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg created a special committee headed by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach, to come up with reforms, and the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state’s main political ethics watchdog, helped the committee write proposals. That’s promising.

The proposed package of bills would ban legislators and other state officials from accepting entertainment gifts such as golf games, tickets to sports events, concerts and theme parks, and hunting and fishing trips.

It also would ban lobbyists from hosting political fundraisers at their homes. That is in response to another scandal in which the FPPC sent letters to 37 public officials notifying them that their campaigns had received improper contributions from lobbyist Kevin Sloat at fundraisers held at his home.

The officials included Gov. Jerry Brown, Steinberg and his designated successor as president pro tem, Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, a co-author of the reform proposals.

Sloat agreed to pay the FPPC a record $133,500 fine for exceeding the $500 total-expenditure limit at his fundraisers by providing fine wine, liquor and cigars, and for giving sports tickets to legislators.

The proposals we’ve seen are welcome, but they don’t go far enough. One thing missing is reform of legislators’ travel paid for by special interests.

Lara, for example, spent 26 days abroad last year on “educational” trips paid for by groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. He and other lawmakers spent 10 days in Sweden and Norway to see how those countries handle energy policy.

Lara said the trips serve an important purpose, but that most taxpayers don’t want to pay for them. He says he is working with the FPPC on placing a cap on such trips.

Great idea. Zero would be good.

Lara doesn’t grasp the inherent conflict of interest in accepting such trips from groups that influence legislation. Mind you, this is one of the “reformers.”

Voters and good-government advocates should be pushing for more — now. It could be awhile before another round of prosecutions turns lawmakers into born-again reformers.

In closed door talks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed to a major new water policy for California that sells out the Delta and guts Endangered Species Act protections. Sen. Barbara Boxer is fighting the good fight to remove the rider from her comprehensive water infrastructure bill, but it may take a presidential veto.